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Shinjū
Shinjū is the first novel written by Laura Joh Rowland and the first novel in the Sano Ichirō series. Official Synopsis "It is January 1689 in Edo, the city that would one day become Tokyo. The bodies of a beautiful noblewoman and a male commoner, bound together, are dragged from the murky Sumida River: a typical shinju, a ritual double suicide committed by a pair of star-crossed lovers. But when Sano Ichiro, a teacher, samurai, and reluctant police officer, begins a routine investigation, he comes to suspect murder. Disobeying direct orders to close the case discreetly, he pursues elusive answers from the ornate mansions of the highest born daimyos, to the gaudy pleasure quarters of the lowest classes, from a cloistered mountaintop convent to a horrid prison where death is a blessing. He risks his family's good name and his own life to solve a crime that nobody wants solved. As he unravels the twisted story behind the deaths, he stumbles upon a trail of deceit and assassination that threatens the very underpinnings of the shogun's Japan."Book List, Laura Joh Rowland. Retrieved April 2nd, 2016. Dedication "To my parents, Lena and Raymond Joh" Acknowledgments "I would like to thank the following people, each of whom helped make this book possible: George Alec Effinger, friend, mentor, and master science fiction writer. My agent, Peter Grey Ahearn; my editor, David Rosenthal; my husband, Marty Rowland. And the members of my writer's workshop: Larry Barbe, Cary Bruton, Kim Campbell, O'Neil DeNoux, Debbie Hodgkinson, Jack Jernigan, Micheal Keane, Mark McCandless, Marian Moore, John Webre, and Fritz Ziegler." Plot :For chapter summaries, see Shinjū/Plot. After investigating a fire in Nihonbashi, Yoriki Sano Ichirō receives a summons from Magistrate Ogyu. Ogyu explains that a peasant man named Noriyoshi and daughter from a samurai family named Niu Yukiko were found dead, their bodies tied together in the usual style of a lover's suicide. Because of the dead woman's status, Ogyu orders Sano to handle the matter swiftly and quietly. However, Sano's instincts tell him that there is more to this case than what Ogyu is telling him. Despite risking possible demotion and disgrace, Sano begins to investigate the case himself. He begins by going to Edo Jail to inspect the bodies. He meets Ito Genboku and his assistant, Mura. Yukiko's corpse has already been given to her family for funeral preparations, but Noriyoshi's body is still at the morgue. An autopsy reveals bruises and no water in his lungs, indicating that he did not drown and was actually beaten to death. Sano suspects that this is also the case with Yukiko. The next day, Sano visits the Niu estate, ostensibly to pay his respects to the grieving family. He questions Lady Niu, her son, Masahito, and her bodyguard, Eii, but Sano does not learn anything useful and even subtly gives away that he is investigating her death. Before leaving the estate, one of Yukiko's sisters, Midori, tells him that Yukiko was not the type of person that Lady Niu had described: overly romantic and influenced by the theater. While she does not have any proof, Midori is insistent about Yukiko being murdered. However, before Sano can ask Midori more questions, Lady Niu shows up and forces Sano to leave. Even though she declared that Yukiko's death was not a suicide, Midori is not too sure of herself. In fact, she remembers seeing Yukiko acting much differently than her usual cheerful self. In order to see what was going through her sister's head, Midori goes into Yukiko's bedchamber and finds some of her dairies, hoping that they will give her a clue as to what might have happened to her. And they do; apparently, Yukiko learned about some horrible secret that she could not repeat but still felt compelled to tell someone about. Before Midori can figure out what her sister meant, Lady Niu catches Midori and forcibly removes her from the room. Meanwhile, Sano goes to Yoshiwara in search of the Okubata Fine Arts Company, the place where Noriyoshi lived and worked. He meets Okubata, the owner of the company, and interrogates the man. While Okubata's body language gives away his lies, Sano does not force the man to reveal what he knows for multiple reasons, the main one being that it would reveal his secret investigation. During the interrogation, Sano learns the names of a few of Noriyoshi's friends and that the man had no living relatives. Upon searching Noriyoshi's room, he finds out the man was a shunga artist who happened to own a large amount of money that his profession would not have helped him earn. Okubata takes the money and tries to write it off as profit from the shunga, but Sano can easily tell that Okubata is lying once again. While Sano interviews the rest of the staff, Okubata gets into a heated conversation with Healing Hands, an elderly blind masseur. After completing the interviews, Sano goes to Okubata and meets Healing Hands who tells Sano about another one of Noriyoshi's friends, one that Okubata did not want to mention: a women by the name of Wisteria who works at a pleasure house called the Palace of the Heavenly Garden. Okubata warns Healing Hands not to say anything more which the masseur takes to heart. More to be added... Character Appearances Debut * Sano Ichirō * Ogyu Banzan * Blacksmith Goro * Sano Shutarō * Sano Etsuko * Tokugawa Tsunayoshi * Eii * Lady Niu * Niu Midori * Niu Yukiko * Noriyoshi * Ito Genboku * Niu Masamune * Toda Ikkyu * Yamaga * Hayashi * Hamada Tsunehiko * Mura * Hachiya Akira * O-hisa * Niu Keiko * Niu Masahito * Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu * Kikunojo * Raiden * Okubata/Cherry Eater * Healing Hands * Lady Wisteria * Aoki Koemon * Katsuragawa Shundai * Ikeda Akiko Character Deaths Locations * Edo ** Edo Jail * Yoshiwara ** Okubata Fine Arts Company ** Palace of the Heavenly Garden Glossary * Yoriki * Shōgun * Aiiya * Honorifics ** -san ** -sama * Jitte * Dōshin * Haori * Hakama * Shirasu * Bushido * Shinjū * Kabuki * Eta * Rangakusha * Koku * Seppuku * Ozen * Yashiki * Sosakan Cover Variations Shinjū english cover first edition (1994).jpg|1994 First edition (English) Shinjū english cover hardcover (1994).jpg|1994 Hardcover (English) Shinjū french paperback (1995).jpg|1995 Paperback (French) Shinjū english hardcover (1997).jpg|1997 Hardcover (English) Shinjū czech cover hardcover (1997).jpg|1997 Hardcover (Czech) Shinjū german cover paperback (1999).jpg|1999 Paperback (German) Shinjū bulgarian cover paperback (2000).jpg|2000 Paperback (Bulgarian) Shinjū english cover paperback (2001).jpg|2001 Paperback (English) Shinjū german paperback (2005).jpg|2005 Paperback (German) Shinjū spanish hardcover (2006).jpg|2006 Hardcover (Spanish) Shinjū czech cover hardcover (2008).jpg|2008 Hardcover (Czech) Shinjū german cover paperback (2008).jpg|2008 Paperback (German) Shinjū english cover paperback (2009).jpg|2009 Paperback (English) Shinjū english cover paperback (2010).jpg|2010 Paperback (English) Shinjū bulgarian cover paperback (2011).jpg|2011 Paperback (Bulgarian) Shinjū slovakian cover (2010).jpg|2010 Slovak cover Shinjū german cover (1994).jpg|German cover Trivia * The blurb on the back of the HarperCollins print seems to confuse the term yoriki with the term sosakan. "...newly appointed yoriki Sano Ichirō. ... Despite the official verdict and warnings from his superiors, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People suspects..." This implies that Sano is the shogun's sosakan. This doesn't become true until the last chapter of the book.Shinju - Paperback, HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved April 2nd, 2016. * In France, Shinjū is published under the title Le sabre et la dague (roughly, "The Sword and the Dagger"). References Category:Books Category:Sano Ichiro series Category:Sano Ichiro novels